Domaine de la Rouillere

Working the vines

Each year, once the tourist season is over, the vine offers up its sparkling fruit and waits impatiently for the moment when it will give the best of itself. Then the harvest can begin. It generally lasts throughout the month of September and attracts a great deal of attention. The autumn rain encourages the growth of weeds, and the hard working of the soil can commence. It has to be prepared and maintained to avoid the need for treatment in spring and to remain within a carefully controlled production logic, midway between organic and chemical cultivation.

The cellarman has the weighty responsibility of monitoring the maceration process, controlling temperatures, yeasts and sugar rates, in order to give birth a few months later, to some quality blends. The pruning work is carried out during the winter by an entire team of professional pruners under the watchful eye of the vineyard manager. Factors which determine the pruning style to be used, either Guyot or Royat, include the parcel, vine variety and the type of wine that we wish to obtain.

Then the New Year arrives.
It is time to bottle the new vintages, the reward for a year of hard work and painstaking care.
They will be imbued with the taste of the sun and earth, quite distinct according to the different varieties and always reflecting the quality of our grapes.
Now thoughts must already turn to the next season: the casks and vats must be prepared, the soil and vines readied so that from the following September, we can harvest the fruits of our labour once again...